Alliance leaders learn how to reduce poverty in 'Bridges' sessions

Monday

Apr 27, 2009 at 9:00 PM

By LAURIE HUFFMAN

The Review

"We hold poverty-stricken people in the palm of our hands," declared Terie Dreussi-Smith, co-author of the book "Bridges out of Poverty."

"We have systems set up to give them a little more food, a little better housing. But they need a way to build a future within the design of these systems. People in poverty are using social services agencies just to survive."

Smith spoke these words during a breakfast seminar to kick off a two-day workshop held on Thursday and Friday at Malone College. The focus was on "next steps" to reduce poverty. The event was sponsored by Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton, United Way of Greater Stark County and Stark County Job and Family Services.

The seminar and workshops were titled "Strategies for Professionals and Communities," and a number of people from the Alliance area were in attendance to learn how to better lead their community and lift those in poverty.

Peter Basil, superintendent of Alliance City Schools, was present at the breakfast seminar on Thursday, and Kim Knowles and Rob Laskey, on staff at Alliance Middle School, Janet Wise and Laura Porter, of Interfaith Child Development Center, Noreen Peterson of Alliance City Health Department and Carrie Lemaster of Early Childhood Alliance were scheduled to attend the two-day workshop sessions.

Other familiar faces at the breakfast seminar included Maria Heggie, president/CEO of United Way of Greater Stark County, who also gave the welcome speech, and Stark County Commissioner Peter Ferguson.

The objectives for the Bridges Out of Poverty event were two-fold, Smith reported. To create economic stability through community initiatives between leaders in the community and people in poverty and to give those in poverty the same choices as those in the middle- and upper-class society.

"People in poverty are problem solvers," Smith told the audience, which was filled with representatives from the fields of education, courts, social services, nonprofit organizations and foundations, health care, government entities, churches, housing authorities, private industry, and mental health and drug and alcohol recovery.

Smith educated the audience on the fact that although poverty is relative, there are two kinds of poverty to deal with. Situational and generational. More and more people are falling into the federal guidelines of poverty, she said. Life events, such as death, disaster, divorce and job loss, can also quickly thrust people into situational poverty.

"Wealth has power. But there is not much power in poverty ... Our economic system is designed to keep people in poverty. So, it is not just the choices people in poverty make that keep them there."

Smith noted the poverty-stricken portion of the population does not have a wealth of resources, and resources are what make the difference between just surviving or actually getting ahead and changing one's station in life.

For leaders in any community to create new systems that will help lift people out of poverty, they must understand the unspoken rules, Smith noted. In their role as the working class, middle-class society is centered around achievement. The wealthy are focused on their connections with the "power brokers." People in poverty are dependent on one another to survive -- so, their life revolves around relationships.

There are hidden rules in different classes of society that can help keep people in poverty, if they are not understood. "If you leave the hidden rules hidden -- you don't break poverty," said Smith.

Along with understanding our differences, "changes must be made in the business, organizational and community levels for people in poverty to get ahead," Smith said.

The first day of workshops was set up to identify ways to work together to reduce poverty. The second day was used to design programs that "will be respectful and will work and that will involve the community" Smith reported during an interview after the Thursday kick-off breakfast. "We are hoping to complete these sessions with a committee formed in Stark County to use to move forward," she concluded.

Smith holds a bachelor's degree from Kent State University and a master's degree from St. Joseph's University. She is originally from the Stark County area of Ohio.

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